Florida Senate and governor races head to machine recount

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Nov. 10, 2018 / 7:28 PM GMT

By Ali Vitali and Kalhan Rosenblatt

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Statewide machine recount has been ordered by the Secretary of State of Florida Ken Detzner for hotly contested key races in Florida, officials announced Saturday.

The recount will include the U.S. Senate race, governor’s race, and commissioner of agriculture race, according to the a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State.

Results of the recount are due no later that 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 15.

On Saturday, all 67 Florida counties had returned their unofficial results to Tallahassee. Included in that was Broward County, which has been the epicenter of controversy over the Senate race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott.

Scott leads Nelson by just over 12,000 votes or .15 percent. Since 2000, there has never been a recount that closed a margin this size.

Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum conceded to the Republican candidate, former U.S. representative Ron DeSantis, on Tuesday night, but when the results began to narrow, he said every vote should count.

The margin in the Florida governor race is now DeSantis over Gilliam by just over 33,000 votes or 0.41 percent.

DeSantis has said little about the recount and is instead proceeding as if he won the election, appointing a transition team and preparing to take office in January.

Gillum will hold a news conference on Saturday afternoon about the ongoing certification process in the race, his campaign announced on Friday evening.

The battle for Nelson’s Senate seat has been more heated, with both sides filing lawsuits and trading verbal jabs.

Scott has said Nelson is trying to steal the election, while Nelson is accusing Scott of trying to stop elections officials from counting every ballot. President Donald Trump has weighed in on behalf of Scott, calling the situation “a disgrace.”

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.

Ali Vitali reported from Tallahassee, Florida. Kalhan Rosenblatt reported from New York City.

Ali Vitali covers the midterms for NBC News and MSNBC, based in Washington D.C. but usually on the campaign trail.